As she spoke, she shot me a disdainful glance and snorted. "You're so different with someone. Although he had the same blood running in his veins he only gave the bride and the groom thirteen hundred and thirty-three dollars. He even said the important thing is the attention. What a cheapskate!"
My brother smirked, then pulled the money out of my red envelope right in front of me and after he tossed the empty envelope to the ground, he stomped on it a few times. "What’s this supposed to be? Do you take me as a joke?"
Their behavior chilled me to the bone.
Although thirteen hundred and thirty-three dollars was not much, it was everything I had secretly saved up through hard labor in prison.
Now, aside from that, I had barely fifteen dollars left to my name.
I frowned but said nothing.
Just then, the oldest boy walked up to me, stared at me for a full minute before letting out a mocking snort and said, "So you’re that ex-convict? You’re so ugly and you still had the nerve to steal my mom? Outrageous!"
Then he turned and waved at the other children. "Come quick! This is the bad man who made everyone call us bastards at school!"
Marvin crouched down. He used his hand to cover the boy’s mouth and chided, "Robert, don’t say that! Hurry! Apologize to your uncle!"
Though he rebuked the child, there was no sincerity in his expression at all.
Instead, his reaction only triggered the elders’ protective instincts. They immediately jumped in, pointing fingers at me as if I were truly the villain here.
Hearing the commotion, Clara, who was chatting with the other, finally walked over.
She stroked Robert Jameson’s head gently, her face filled with heartache as she apologized, It’s Mommy’s fault, sweetie, for making you go through this."
"However, from now on, in the eyes of the law, Uncle Luke will officially be your father. No one will ever dare call you an illegitimate child again!" she added.
A slightly smaller boy than Robert suddenly burst into tears.
My in-laws rushed to his side and their voices filled with affection. "What’s wrong, my precious baby? Grandma’s little Colin? Are you feeling sick?"
Between sobs, Colin Jameson pointed straight at me and said, "Our teacher said that only bad people go to jail."
"I don’t want a bad man as my dad! I want my real dad!"
When Colin started crying, the younger children immediately followed.